The lotteries run in the U.S. are a little different than in the U.K. The U.S. lotteries (I can't really speak for all of them) generally pay about 50%-60% lottery revenue to the winners just like the UK National Lottery. However, the states run the different lotteries and there's no money paid directly to the federal government out of the lottery revenue, so they have to take money from the winnings and give it to the feds. Some states take the money and some states leave it up to you to pay your federal taxes. Also, some states make you pay state income tax on your winnings and some don't.

After doing some research, the Connecticut State Lottery is kinda stupid. They put 31% of lottery revenue into the state general fund (i.e. tax fund) but they also take an additional 5% from any large winnings plus they are required by state law to give 25% or 28% of winnings to the federal government on winnings of $5000 or more.

Scratch and win tickets are great. Michigan just started putting out vending machines with 'em. Wonderful! Walk up, put in a fin or a buck, and get a ticket. No need to wait in line behind the moron who can't decide want numbers to bet on.

Who cares about selling lottery tickets to kids. If they want to buy one, let them buy one, you just have to be 18 to claim the prize. Most people don't realize that that is the law in a lot of states.

My 62 year old Father on a visit to Atlanta from the UK was refused a beer at the ball park and a cashier in publix refused to sell him a bottle of wine because he didn't have any state issued ID on him.

Sue on what grounds? Store policy is to ask for an ID. The customer refused and left. The clerk then waited until the end of her shift, and legally purchased the ticket.Granted, not having a case doesn't stop most people, but still.

A guy wanted a 5 dollar ticket and the machine malfuctioned. So we hit another key and got a different 5 dollar ticket. But he still wanted the other 5 dollar ticket instead. So we called the people with the key. We gave him the one he wanted, and I bought the 5 dollar test one. I won 10 dollars. w00t. I never buy lottery tickets either.

Pretty much anyplace will sell you a lotto ticket, but claiming it when youre under 18 is the hard part. This place probably knew it would get sued someday by a 17-year-old with a winning jackpot (they shouldnt have let me buy it, Im under 18!), hence the ID check.

As for the tearjerker Tufty told about his dad, a lot of places are like that. Partly its due to the overall stupidity of cashiers; management gets the shiat fined out of them if their store is caught selling to underage kids, so they make the cashiers card everyone, no exceptions.Another reason would be attitude; if Tufty's dad had an attitude like his son's, the cashiers might have assumed he was a convicted criminal on a suspended license and therefore not allowed to drink.

I partially agree with Cokemonkey. As a filthy forigner who lives here, I make it a practice to carry ID with me at all times and I have no problem showing it when asked...I have a feeling Tufty's Dad pulled the 'How Dare You, I'm a British Citizen' card when asked to poney up the cridentials.

I work in a convenience store, and we're told to ID EVERYBODY for sale of alcohol, but to use our own judgement for selling tobacco and lottery.

The reason is, a whole lot of shiat could go down if a store's caught selling alcohol to a minor - the store could lose its license. For tobacco and lottery, the cashier can just get fined for selling it to him. They have to make absolutely certain that we don't sell anyone under 21 alcohol, and carding EVERYONE is the easiest way to do so, in interest of fairness.

I hate having to make an 80-year-old man go back to his car to get his driver's license to buy a can of beer, but I have to. I could get fired if the cameras caught me selling ANYONE beer without having them show me their ID. So please, don't take your frustration of society's stupidity out on your friendly neighborhood cahsier.

One of my co-workers (male) was upset with another co-worker (female) for some reason. She bought her weekly lottery ticket. He went out and bought 20 duplicates. He figured if she won, so would he but, he would get 20/21 of the jackpot. It would have much funnier if the numbers had actually won.

I was filling out the forms for employee tax information one time and they said i needed my drivers license and my social security card (to show that I was a us citizen). I told them i dind't have a SS card but that I had a passport with me (in my backpack, don't ask me why but i always have it with me even though i am born/raised american). He said that they couldn't accept that and that i had to get a SS card. So, I applied for one and got it a few weeks later (without pay the whole time) and came back in. Another person was there and I told them waht happened and they were like 'yea that asshat was fired a week ago'.

Oh well just shows you how dumb people are, I mean with my passport I can get a new driver's license even without anything else like a birth certificate and this dumbass wouldn't take it even _with_ my drivers license.

That's not really true. Inheritances are taxed at the state level, and estates are taxed at the federal level if the decedent's estate is at or above a certain amount.Personal injury awards are the only lawsuit proceeds expressly excluded from federal income tax.

2003-12-11 04:04:10 PM tuftyMy 62 year old Father on a visit to Atlanta from the UK was refused a beer at the ball park and a cashier in publix refused to sell him a bottle of wine because he didn't have any state issued ID on him.

Are Americans happy with the way thier country is going?----------------------------I worked concessions for the UCONN football games this season and everyone, regardless of age, had to show ID to get their wristband to be able to buy alcohol. My brother-in-law tried to buy a beer during an ice hockey game and had no ID, therefore, no beer. I think they take the "card everyone" position because I'm sure young-looking that are of age feel hassled when they get carded. Personally, I have no problem showing ID (I'm 42). If anything, I take it as flattery.